Digital Therapy Rejoyn Utilizes Neuroplasticity in Treating Depression

A new digital therapy called Rejoyn is now available for treating depression, based on the principles of neuroplasticity. Developed in part by Dennis S. Charney, MD, Rejoyn is an emotional face memory task designed to correct abnormal neural circuits associated with depression.

Unlike traditional treatments such as medication or neuromodulation, Rejoyn is a non-invasive task that patients can complete on their smartphones. "You do the task repeatedly a couple of times a week for 6 weeks, and it has been shown in a large study to be effective," said Charney. The therapy received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in 2024 following extensive research and clinical trials.

The inspiration behind Rejoyn came from resilience research conducted by Charney and his colleagues, particularly their work with former prisoners of war (POWs) held in solitary confinement in Hanoi during the Vietnam War. "Some of them developed enormous cognitive capacities, doing arithmetic, some wrote books in their mind," he explained. These observations supported the idea that targeted cognitive exercises could reshape brain circuits—a concept that led to the development of Rejoyn.

Initially, the task was challenging for users, but after licensing to Click Therapeutics, it was redesigned to be more engaging. A partnership with pharmaceutical company Otsuka Precision Health then facilitated the necessary studies to obtain FDA approval. "It was an out-of-the-box approach to treatment," Charney said. "We thought it would probably fail, so it is kind of another message that be bold, be prepared for failure when you’re doing your research."

Charney, who has been the dean of the Icahn School of Medicine for 18 years, expressed pride in this discovery, as well as in his broader research on resilience. "The most life-changing work has been on resilience, where I have gotten to meet so many great people who we had to find as being resilient, ranging from POWs to Navy SEALs, people who had to face serious diseases, traumas… we learned from them to develop what we hopefully came up with sort of a prescription and how to become a resilient person."

Rejoyn’s launch represents a significant step forward in mental health treatment, offering a novel and accessible way to help individuals battling depression.

This is part 6 of a multipart video series. You can watch part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, and part 5 here.

Dr Charney is the dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He is the author of Neurobiology of Mental Illness, The Physician’s Guide to Depression and Bipolar Disorders, and Molecular Biology for the Clinician. He is a professor of psychiatry, neuroscience, and pharmacology and systems therapeutics at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.